Senior Director - Data Platform and Cloud Services

sambatv· Platform & Infrastructure
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📍 WarsawInternational Full Time Employee💰 PLN 580K–682K

About this role

Samba is a media intelligence company. We know what the world is watching, reading, and thinking about — in real time, at scale, across every screen. Our data exists with the consent of over a billion people, organized into the most complete picture of consumer attention ever built. The biggest brands in the world use that picture to make smarter decisions. We think it’s the most interesting data asset on the planet, because it’s the most culturally relevant. 

We're seeking a Senior Director to lead and transform our data platform and cloud services architecture. This role is not about incremental improvements – we need someone who can lead and execute a leap forward in our data infrastructure capabilities, positioning Samba at the forefront of TV data analytics and AI-driven insights.

What you’ll do:

    Strategic Leadership

    • Define and execute a transformative vision for our data platform architecture that scales to billions of daily events

    • Partner with CTO and engineering leadership to align platform strategy with business objectives

    • Drive adoption of next-generation technologies including vector databases and ML-powered analytics

    • Build strategic roadmaps that balance innovation with operational excellence

      • Technical Architecture

      • Lead the evolution from current state to a modern, cloud-native data platform with embedded ML/AI capabilities

      • Work with the team to deliver fault-tolerant, multi-region architectures supporting real-time and batch processing

      • Build and maintain the services, platforms, and frameworks enabling Samba’s data engineering teams

      • Architect embedding-based systems for content understanding, viewer similarity, and semantic search

      • Deliver  infrastructure for vector storage, indexing, and retrieval at scale (billions of embeddings)

      • Champion best practices in data governance, security, and compliance (GDPR, CCPA)

      • Evaluate and implement emerging technologies (streaming architectures, lakehouse patterns, ML platforms)

        • ML/AI Infrastructure

        • Design platforms for embedding generation, storage, and serving at scale

        • Implement vector search capabilities for real-time recommendations and content discovery

        • Build infrastructure supporting multimodal embeddings (video, audio, text metadata)

        • Enable self-service ML capabilities for data scientists and analysts

        • Establish MLOps practices for embedding model lifecycle management

          • Team & Organizational Development

          • Build and mentor a world-class team of platform engineers, ML engineers, and architects

          • Foster a culture of innovation, experimentation, and continuous learning

          • Establish clear career paths and growth opportunities for team members

          • Drive cross-functional collaboration with data science, product, and engineering teams

            • Operational Excellence

            • Establish SLAs and monitoring frameworks for internal and external clients

            • Provide observability tools for Data Engineering and Data Science, including tools to enforce data quality

            • Lead vendor relationships and technology partnerships

            • Drive automation and self-service capabilities for internal customers

Who you are:

    • 12+ years in data platform/infrastructure roles, with 5+ years in senior leadership

    • Proven track record of leading large-scale platform transformations

    • Experience building production embedding systems and vector databases

    • History of building and scaling teams of 20+ engineers

    • Deep expertise in modern data architectures (data mesh, lakehouse, streaming-first)

    • Proficiency with, Stream processing (Kafka, Flink, Spark Streaming), Modern data warehouses/lakes (Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery), Workflow management (Airflow, etc), Container orchestration (Kubernetes, EKS/GKE), Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation), ML platforms (MLflow, Kubeflow, SageMaker)

    • Exceptional communication skills to articulate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences

    • Strategic thinking with ability to balance long-term vision with short-term deliverables

    • Strong business acumen to connect technical decisions with business outcomes

    • Track record of influencing without authority across organizational boundaries

    • Knowledge of privacy-preserving analytics and clean room technologies

    • Contributions to open-source projects in ML infrastructure or vector search

    • Advanced degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or related field

Samba is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.  We strive to empower connection with one another, reflect the communities we serve, and tackle meaningful projects that make a real impact.
 
Samba may collect personal information directly from you, as a job applicant, Samba may also receive personal information from third parties, for example, in connection with a background, employment or reference check, in accordance with the applicable law. For further details, please see Samba's Applicant Privacy Policy. For residents of the EU , Samba Inc. is the data controller.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the salary for the Senior Director - Data Platform and Cloud Services role at sambatv?
The listed salary for this Senior Director - Data Platform and Cloud Services position at sambatv is PLN 580K–682K. This is an International Full Time Employee role.
Where is the Senior Director - Data Platform and Cloud Services position at sambatv located?
This Senior Director - Data Platform and Cloud Services role at sambatv is based in Warsaw. The position is listed as on-site or hybrid. Check the full job description or apply directly to confirm the work arrangement.
Is the Senior Director - Data Platform and Cloud Services role at sambatv full-time or part-time?
This is listed as a International Full Time Employee position. It is posted as a Senior Director - Data Platform and Cloud Services role in the Platform & Infrastructure department at sambatv.
Which team or department does the Senior Director - Data Platform and Cloud Services at sambatv belong to?
This Senior Director - Data Platform and Cloud Services position is part of the Platform & Infrastructure department at sambatv. See the full job description for more information about the team structure and responsibilities.
How do I apply for the Senior Director - Data Platform and Cloud Services position at sambatv?
Click the "Apply Now" button on this page. You will be redirected to sambatv's official application portal hosted on lever where you can submit your application directly.
When was the Senior Director - Data Platform and Cloud Services job at sambatv posted?
This Senior Director - Data Platform and Cloud Services position at sambatv was posted on Sep 3, 2026. Apply as soon as possible — early applications are often reviewed first.
Senior Director - Data Platform and Cloud Services
sambatv · 💰 PLN 580K–682K
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